I had to join just to chip in on this topic . Though My implementation of whole LinuxMCE is still in my head, I'll put my two euro-cents in with what I know about these Foscam IP Cameras, I think it's a good topic to keep alive since they are rather versatile & cheap & hackable little buggers (they run linux)

I bought a foscam FI8908W Pan&tilt IP-cam a couple months ago and though I haven't had time to play with it much, I've been following the stories. Of interest in addition to gadgetvictims are these two blogs:

Even a baby could hack their baby cam with these instructions (not all posts are tagged with ip-cam so I guess that requires manual labor on your part):

I won't bother to talk about things I don't understand, but what I do understand is that they've managed to extract the binaries and compile them again with added features, which means the sky is the limit with what we can do with these. I'm just a mere noob when it comes to linux (not all Finnish people are Linux gurus) So I leave it to experts to figure what to do with all this...for now (what better way is there to learn everything about linux than project like LinuxMCE)

Also there's the thing about fake Foscam cameras. It seems that most of those cameras are manufactured by Foscam and OEM's just put their own firmware and updating a firmware is restricted by the firmware itself. So I guess even if you happen to have a clone, you should be able to hack it as well as the original. (via JTAG if nothing else)

Hia,i did begin today to create the template for the Foscam FI8908W ip camera.Regarding the ruby code, i will include pan / tilt and flip.I also found http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=3720.0, and will test to see if it works. If yes, will make the template available next week, after testing it.

foscam commands:snapshot.cgidescription To obtain the snapshotPermission visitorSyntax /snapshot.cgi[?user=&pwd=&next_url=]Parameters user:usernamepwd:passwordnext_url:the name of snapshotNote 1 If not use the parameter “next_url”, the snapshot name is:deviceid(Alias)_ Current time.jpg

Hia,today i've finished the code for the pnp of the Foscam ip camera.DCErouter.log shows that at least sonething is happening, but the camera does not moves.I did use the panasonic template as base, changing only the camera commands.The pnp part is ok, the camera is plugged and automagically recognized, room assigned, and added.But the after that, the router keeps reloading As this is my first try to build a pnp template, and changing ruby codes, i would like to know if it's possible to get some help.

Thx for the answer, Bulek,as i'm not a ruby programmer, and maybe will not be.But i took the panasonic ip camera ruby code and adapted to the foscam commands.Maybe something is missing, but i don't know what. If it works for the panasonic (i don't know if it works because i don't have the panasonic to test), it should work for the foscam (changing the cgi commands).If someone could revise the code at http://pastebin.com/LK160n8Z , and tell what is missing, i will change it, continue the tests and once is ready, make it available.I think that is a way that i can help.Regards,Paulo

Thx for the answer, Bulek,as i'm not a ruby programmer, and maybe will not be.But i took the panasonic ip camera ruby code and adapted to the foscam commands.Maybe something is missing, but i don't know what. If it works for the panasonic (i don't know if it works because i don't have the panasonic to test), it should work for the foscam (changing the cgi commands).If someone could revise the code at http://pastebin.com/LK160n8Z , and tell what is missing, i will change it, continue the tests and once is ready, make it available.I think that is a way that i can help.Regards,Paulo

Hi,

sorry at the moment I'm completely out of Ruby world (I did few templates for Marantz AV receiver quite a while ago)... But I'm also no Ruby programmer, but any experience will do - Ruby is not so hard to learn from examples....

The best advice I could give at the moment is to browse and learn existing Ruby templates (find some with more extensive logging - maybe you can try even Marantz one). Then start everything and watch device logs and DCERouter logs and you will get the idea of the whole thing...

Try to send commands to device from web-admin page and see what happens in logs... And also watch what happens when Orbiter demands video frame from ip camera...